


skin of my teeth (water under the bridge)

by boys_in (kaleidosphere)



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Angst, Blood Drinking, Developing Relationship, Drama, Getting Together, M/M, Minor Character Death, Romance, Vampire Turning, Vampires, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-02
Updated: 2020-11-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:07:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27341707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaleidosphere/pseuds/boys_in
Summary: "Will you become a monster, and live the long flow of time with me?""I thought you'd never ask."
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd & Ashe Duran | Ashe Ubert, Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/Ashe Duran | Ashe Ubert
Comments: 4
Kudos: 29
Collections: Fodlan Frights Halloween Exchange 2020





	skin of my teeth (water under the bridge)

**Author's Note:**

> This is my gift exchange fic for the [Fodlan Frights Halloween 2020 Gift Exchange!](https://twitter.com/Fe3hHalloween) This is for the amazing Saz, who you can follow on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/sazhimii) and [Instagram!](https://www.instagram.com/sazhimi/) I chose the prompt about vampires, opting to focus on Ashe/Dimitri. I hope you enjoy this rather longer piece of mine! Happy (Belated) Halloween!

Ashe didn't know the man standing on the bridge. All he knew was his presence there, routine like clockwork. In the hours leading up to twilight, he'd stand near the rails, eyes affixed to the river stretching beyond him. And if Ashe listened closely, he could hear the man's heartbeat—steady and slow, like he wasn't the least bit afraid of the watery oblivion below him.

Perhaps the man was simply ignorant of the rumors surrounding the river and the bridge, especially at night. Even though it was Ashe's fault for such rumors, he still didn't believe anyone in their right mind would come to this place willingly.

Yet the man was there every single day, regardless. In rain or shine, Ashe saw him standing there, resolute as always. He didn't even bring an umbrella with him, instead electing to get soaked by inclement weather or the river's wild floods.

It made no sense.

Ashe couldn't resist his curiosity any longer.

"Why do you keep coming here?" he asked the stranger one day. Ashe had never been this close to the man, only viewing him from afar, and was taken aback by how tall and strong he looked in person. His blue eyes were piercing, yet outlined by a tired darkness. His blond hair, though messy and loose, was quite beautiful up close, as well. "Haven't you heard? They say this bridge is cursed."

The stranger did not answer right away. He barely even moved, except to adjust the collar of his fur-lined coat, gaze lost in the horizon. Minutes passed in silence, and Ashe was ready to let him go, until he suddenly spoke up. "If that were the case, then the bridge and I would have something in common."

"Oh?" Ashe shifted weight from one foot to another. His eyes couldn't seem to decide between the man and the river, so he ended up staring down at his own feet, instead, hands politely clasped behind his back. "What makes you say that?"

"...You would ask about me," he muttered so low that Ashe almost didn't hear. "Then you must not know. My life is—has been— _was_ a series of unfortunate events after another. It is my very existence itself that brings my loved ones pain."

"That—" Ashe gulped. "That sounds...terrible. And highly untrue. I'm sure your loved ones—I'm sure those people would forgive you if they could."

He made a noise that sounded halfway between a laugh and a sigh. "I am not someone that deserves to be forgiven. I have committed many misdeeds and I—I have turned my gaze away from those who would accept me. I deserve to be punished."

"So that's why you've come here? To be punished?"

"...I do not know why I come to this bridge as often as I do. Perhaps it is as you say, that this place is cursed, and so without other people here, I find solace in solitude."

"I didn't mean to bother you. It's just, I noticed you were here almost every day, and at such late hours, too. I guess after a while, I wanted to know more about you."

"Do as you please," he said. There was no anger in his voice, but a distinct tone of exhaustion that bled through, matching the bruises on his skin and the void in his eyes. "I don't particularly care one way or another."

"It would seem that way." Ashe pushed a silver strand of hair behind his ear, for lack of a better thing to do. "Can I at least ask you something?"

Silence.

Ashe went on to say, "What's your name?"

"Why would you want to know my name?"

"If it helps, my name is Ashe. I don't want to keep referring to you as 'the man on the bridge.' I mean, that's a little bit rude, isn't it?"

"Rude." He repeated the word as if unfamiliar with it, then shook his head once. "You would consider me with kindness? No, that's not—well, it doesn't matter. I suppose there is no harm in telling you my name, Ashe."

 _Ashe._ His own name sounded so beautiful once someone else said it. When was the last time someone had said his name? It had to have been years and years ago, back when he lived life without a care in the world.

Back when the waters hadn't yet run red.

"My name is Dimitri," he said. "It's...nice to meet you."

 _Dimitri._ Quite a pretty name, in Ashe's opinion. Strange that he should think of beauty when the man in front of him was anything but. Not to say that Dimitri was ugly, in comparison, but there was something _rough_ underneath his subdued facade. An undercurrent of bloodlust, anger, vengeance, confusion, and all of sorts of emotions that were blackened yet watered down—something inherently _ugly_ and _unsightly,_ qualities that went against his blond hair, blue eyes, and attractive build. Qualities that spoke of the ugly past he bemoaned, and the reasons for his self-proclaimed "punishment."

Dimitri was a simple name, but Ashe held onto every single letter as if it were scripture.

His chest aching all the while.

.

.

"It's nice to meet you, too."

.

.

Ashe didn't know Dimitri beyond his appearance and his name. Oh, and his past, weighed heavy by regrets and wrongdoings. It made him curious about what exactly happened to Dimitri that he turned to the cursed river for guidance, but he decided against asking him, despite the raging curiosity within. Instead, Ashe was content in simply being near Dimitri, the two of them watching the river run its course beneath the bridge, stretching out farther and farther beyond their reach.

One evening, as the sun began to set and cast the whole world in an orange glow, Dimitri spoke.

"Why is the bridge cursed?"

Ashe flinched. He hadn't meant to, but he simply did not anticipate Dimitri to say anything at all. Their communication had been limited to simple hellos and goodbyes, with an occasional question here or there. This was the first time since their initial meeting where Dimitri spoke out of turn. "Are you asking why people think it's haunted? Or why it might actually _be_ haunted?"

"Is there a difference?"

"...I guess not. Do you really want to know?"

Dimitri nodded. "I do. I remember how surprised you were when we first met. I've always wondered why that was the case."

Ashe paused for a moment before replying. "Fair enough. There are lots of different versions of this story, but the one I know goes like this…"

Then Ashe told Dimitri the story of a poor farmer and his family who lived near the river, separated from the rest of their village. They were warned against living there in the first place, as there had been rumors of monsters who lurked in the forest just beyond the river. The father, desperate for fertile soil and a chance to start over, ignored the warnings and took his family to the river, anyway. They built a small house there, and started growing crops and keeping animals. For a short period in time, they were thriving. They were happy.

"Until…?" Dimitri looked expectant.

"Until," Ashe mumbled. "Until the rumors turned out to be true. There _were_ monsters who lived in the forest, as they were biding their time, waiting to strike from the shadows. The farmer and his wife were killed under the light of the next full moon, while their children were kidnapped and separated by the fiends of the forest."

"..."

"The river ran red with their spilled blood, and the nearby village used their deaths as an example. Never go near the river or the bridge, they said. It's a link to the spiritual world and a guaranteed death wish, they said. Don't be like the farmer and his family who wanted more than what they needed, they said." Ashe sighed. "And so on, and so forth. Really, you could imagine how the rest of it went."

"Hmm." Dimitri nodded. "And I suppose those children were never seen again?"

"The farmer had three children in all. Two of them were never seen again; you're right. The other child, however, was rumored to have been turned into a cursed willow tree, or transformed into a forest monster, himself. Some even say that he is a demon lurking near the bridge, waiting for the next unfortunate soul to pass by so he can drown them. Others say he is the wind that whispers to people at night, carrying the names of his deceased family members on the breeze, forever mourning." Ashe shrugged. "Pick your favorite story and go with it. For all we know, they could be true."

"I see. I guess such stories, if told for a long period of time, would scare anyone off."

"Not you," Ashe said.

"Not you either," Dimitri pointed out. "But I'm not here to judge you, for whatever reasons you may have for coming here. And if it counts for anything, I'm not afraid of this river, either. Or the bridge built over it."

"You should be."

He seemed genuinely taken aback at this. "What?"

"You _should_ be afraid," Ashe murmured. "Of the river, of the bridge, of _me._ Who knows if the story is true or not? Maybe that lost child—the one that got separated from his siblings—is still out there. Maybe he's watching us right now."

"Then let him." Dimitri stood up straight, and Ashe felt incredibly small in comparison to his courage, his strength. "What does he see, I wonder? How does a spirit or a monster or a what-have-you see a man like me, who has thrown everything away, and done all the wrong things at the same time?"

"Dimitri—"

"Thank you for your stories, Ashe. I should take my leave."

"...Alright." Ashe didn't want him to leave, not really, but he would never say as much. Even though he told the story like he wanted to, part of him felt unfulfilled. Maybe it was because he left out the most important detail of all. "Will I see you again tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow and the next day," Dimitri said. "For whatever twisted reason this place is cursed, it also makes me feel at ease, if you can believe it."

"I believe it," Ashe reassured. "There's something calming about the water, I think. Cursed or not."

Dimitri nodded. "I agree. Until tomorrow, then."

"Until tomorrow."

.

.

Ashe didn't know if Dimitri was a good judge of character or not. If he was, then he must have seen plainly through Ashe's lies, and sensed the truth of the "story" Ashe had told him.

Ashe was an honest person at heart, but he couldn't remember the last time he had been in someone's company like he'd been with Dimitri. Though the rumors of the bridge and the river were true, time and time again, a wayward soul ended up crossing it for one reason or another. Youths daring each other and testing their bravery, scholars wanting to get down to the truth of the matter, the elderly who were already halfway through death's door and unafraid of a few superstitions—it wasn't just Dimitri who had come to the bridge.

Plenty of people did. But unlike those people, Dimitri left the bridge fully intact. Ashe had seen to it, personally, that his shadow of a being left him alone, the demon in him simmering quietly until the next peaceful moment, where Ashe would be alone, left to his devices, and free to exist as he was.

A monster.

A demon.

Or, as some might even guess to venture, a _vampire._

It was hard to control himself around Dimitri, Ashe realized. His heartbeat never swayed in a direction too fast or too slow, and even the most vulnerable moments (Ashe standing there, Dimitri standing there, their bodies naturally moving towards each other until there was little space left between them) left him in a calm daze. It was strange, really, that someone could be so comfortable in the face of imminent danger.

That Ashe's fangs could protrude without his knowledge, and it took a well-placed frown to hide the worst of it from Dimitri.

Whenever he left the bridge, Ashe nearly fell to his knees: throat dry, eyes red, breath short, chest echoing painfully. _Blood,_ every fiber of him screamed. _Drink his blood._

And every time, Ashe denied it. Dimitri wasn't like the others, he reasoned. He was a good person underneath all the external dread, one that deserved to go home at the end of the day. Nothing like Ashe, who was a monster in human disguise—a wolf in sheep's clothing, though not a wolf of his own design.

He still remembered the day his creator took him, with eyes as red as blood, fangs like a wolf's but much more lethal than a wolf could ever be. " _You seem different,"_ he hissed. " _I hope you survive this, if only so I can see where your existence takes you."_

And Ashe recalled the exact moment in time in which he'd been bitten, teeth like knives in his skin, blood drawn hastily, body writhing in excruciating pain. He remembered the full moon above him, eyes locked onto its blinding glow, his body wrenching for dear life. Then the shadows cast over him, darkness enveloping him whole, until he next awoke.

When he did, he found himself thirsting for one thing and one thing only. He found himself lost, his family members dead or scattered to the wind. " _Now what shall you do, when death is no longer an option?"_ His creator smiled at him. " _I wonder…"_

Ashe tried not to hurt others, as he knew cruelty well, and what it did to someone at the edge of life. Despite this, in the early days, he was particularly bad at keeping his distance, and many more people succumbed to his fangs as they did to the river's current. The rumors of his family, of _him,_ were perpetuated, and less and less people walked into his domain.

Those that _did_ were rather unlucky. He couldn't control himself well at the beginning, and so he shuddered to think of those times—those _people_ that were less fortunate than now. How many had suffered by his own hand, and his lack of control? How many had yet to suffer?

How long until Dimitri becomes another statistic: those that lost their lives to the cursed bridge and the haunted river that runs below it?

How long until Ashe can no longer keep his composure around him, and punishes him in a way he'd never imagine?

How long?

.

.

"You don't have to keep standing here with me," Dimitri said one day. "I know I'm not terribly interesting."

"You don't have to be interesting," Ashe insisted. "I like standing here with you. The river is nice." He thought for a moment more, then added on, "Unless you would rather I leave. Because I don't want to make you uncomfortable—"

"I...like having you around, actually." Dimitri smiled softly. Had he smiled like that before? "I just didn't want to bore you."

"You could never bore me," Ashe reassured. He dared to reach out his hand, fingers skimming over the edge of Dimitri's knuckles, hesitant to touch but eager to remain. He settled for gently tapping against the surface of his skin, lips curled into a small smile. "I like having you around, too."

And it had been years since he'd heard such kind words—either of them.

It was nice.

.

.

Ashe messed up.

He didn't even know the name of the woman he drank from, just that she was already covered in blood when he found her, the corpse of some strange man dragging behind her heels. She looked shocked at first—surprised that someone would actually inhabit the cursed river at this time of day. Once the initial surprise wore off, she held up a knife to his face, muttering something about being sorry, and how he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The next thing he knew, she was lying face-down in the river bank, lying still in the muddy water.

A scattered array of fang marks arranged in her neck.

Night had fallen on the world quite early, and the sun was gone by the time Ashe collected himself, realizing he'd just drank and possibly killed the woman before him. Granted, she seemed to be a murderer already, but instead of claiming a second victim, she became one herself.

As Ashe hauled her body away from the river, hoping to dump it in the nearby woods or some such, he heard the paused footfalls of someone nearby.

A familiar scent drowned his senses, and when he turned around, he couldn't imagine how bloodied his own face had been—how his usually green eyes were dyed crimson, mouth quivering with dark stains as his fangs poked out from beneath his trembling lips.

Dimitri staring at him all the while. "Oh," he whispered. "I guess this must be a bad time for you."

Despite his better judgement, Ashe laughed. "Guess so," he said.

.

.

"So, you're a vampire?"

"That's right."

"You need the blood of others to survive?"

"I do."

"And you live by the river?"

"You could say that."

"Ashe," Dimitri breathed out. "Are you the child—the boy that haunts the bridge? Is the story you told me...about _you?"_

Ashe never imagined this day would come so soon, the day he would tell the truth to someone after all his years of living. He thought it would be hard to admit to something so deep and strenuous, but around Dimitri everything became exceedingly easy. "Yes," he admitted. "Everything I told you was true. All of it."

.

.

Dimitri didn't know what to do in this situation. For years, his life had been spent being broken, and other people picking up the pieces instead of him. Now when it was someone else's turn to break—to be broken, to be wounded, to be in need of mending—he was at a loss for words.

Ashe was a monster, a murderer, a bloodsucker and leech.

But he'd also been Dimitri's only companion these past few months, keeping him company and keeping him _sane_ when it was so easy to let go.

Knowing this, and knowing the young man standing in front of him as he was (Ashe, kind and gentle. Ashe, who smelled of salt and dayflowers. Ashe, who never prodded nor pressed Dimitri for information others would gladly smother out of him. Ashe—), Dimitri decided to take a chance.

He reached out to Ashe and pulled him in closer, ignoring the way his breath left his lips unbidden, ignoring the way his body shook as it was touched, as if unfamiliar with the situation, forgetting everything about him except his warmth and kindness.

"It's okay," he whispered. "I'm so sorry, Ashe. For everything that happened to you."

"Dimitri—"

"Will you let me stay with you?"

A pause.

"Please."

"You would stay...after everything I just told you?" Ashe's voice was too weak to be certain, but he continued to resist, anyway. "Dimitri, my hands are not clean. I've _murdered_ people. That woman—"

"So have I," he cut in. "Every day, their faces haunt me. Is it not the same for you?"

"..."

"We will not be so easily forgiven for what we have done. But if I were with you—if we were _together,_ then—then maybe. Maybe it won't be so bad after all."

"Okay," Ashe murmured. "Okay, Dimitri. You can stay by my side. I-I want to stay with you, too." He reciprocated the force used in the embrace, hands tightened into knots at Dimitri's lower back, face buried into the warmth of his chest. "If you'll have me."

.

.

And he had him.

Right in the palm of his hand.

.

.

Ashe expected Dimitri to leave and never come back, but he returned the next day as always, this time with an expectant look in his eye.

"What is it?" Ashe asked.

"I was simply wondering about you."

"If you have a question, you can ask it. I don't mind."

"Truly?"

Thus, the afternoon was spent talking about Ashe's vampirism, what it entailed, and how long it had been affecting him.

The answer was as follows:

"A long time," Ashe said. He closed his eyes, slumped against the railing, and listened to the heartbeat of the river below him. "I've lost count."

"And to think, I thought that you were perhaps younger than me, or even my age." Dimitri hung his head low, the longest parts of his hair barely scraping over the stonework. "Don't you get bored, living for so long?"

"I do," Ashe admitted. "But these days, I have you to look forward to."

"..."

"I—" Ashe propped himself upward at once, dusting off his clothes as if they'd been dirty to begin with. "Sorry, I didn't mean that. Just pretend I didn't say anything."

"Actually," Dimitri spoke up. "I was going to say the same thing."

"H-Huh?"

"That I have been enjoying your company thus far, and I'm glad for it."

"Despite everything?" Ashe looked pensive, as if about to flinch.

"Despite everything." Dimitri seemed serious, unyielding.

Ashe took his word for it.

.

.

"What happens when you drink from a person?" Dimitri asked one night.

On this night, the two of them sat underneath the bridge, for once, resting at the riverbank with their shoes removed and pant legs rolled up. The water was cool and calm as it rushed over them. Ashe sighed. "What do you mean?"

"Do they die right away?"

"That's a rather depressing question."

"I won't ask it again if it bothers you," Dimitri reassured. "In fact, forget I said anything."

 _I wish,_ Ashe thought. _I wish that your every word didn't haunt me, ghost that you are._

_Do you know that I hang onto every word you say?_

"For dear life," Ashe muttered too low for Dimitri to hear. "Um—" he spoke again in a louder voice— "no, it's fine. I'm the one that asked you to stay, so I'll gladly answer your questions."

"Alright." Dimitri nodded. "Whenever you're ready."

"...They do not die right away. In fact, if I wanted to, I could drink from the same person multiple times over, as long as I make sure not to take so much."

"Then why do people die around you?"

"Most do not," Ashe asserted. "I...would drink them to the point of exhaustion, and wipe their memories afterward."

"...And the others?"

Ashe thought back to the woman that appeared on the same day Dimitri did, and how she harbored some dark secret within her. Maybe he should've spared her, at least so he could ask her about her crimes and what she meant to do. Now he'll never know. "They never make it back home," he answered. "Try as they might."

"Do the survivors of your _feedings_ —" they both flinched at the word, Ashe outwardly and Dimitri inwardly— "uh, become vampires, too?"

"It is possible for me to turn someone," Ashe began to say. "But I've never done such a thing."

"How come? Surely you'd be less lonely if there were more people like you."

"I don't want anyone to be like _me."_ Ashe sighed heavily, digging the soles of his feet further into the river mud. "I'm a monster. No one else deserves this fate."

"Hmm." Dimitri leaned forward on his haunches, arms rested over his drawn-up knees. "I see." Whether or not he truly understood, Ashe didn't know. But Dimitri seemed at peace as he stared out into the water, heartbeat steady...steady...steady…

...Steadily growing faster? Ashe picked up on the increase in pace, curious as to what sudden thoughts might have caused him to grow more flustered.

Only for Dimitri to say them aloud: "Would you consider biting me?"

Ashe faltered. "W-What? _What?"_

Dimitri's face was screwed into a thoughtful expression. How much thought had he put behind the words just said, though? Any at all, or was Ashe using his powers in ways that couldn't be seen? "If it pains you, I'd rather not anyone else get hurt. So for me—"

"I don't want to hurt you," Ashe said immediately. "Dimitri, I could never—"

"I'd be fine with it."

"But _why?_ I haven't done anything for you." Ashe thought back to the past several months and how nothing spectacular had happened—that he simply kept this man company as the two of them kept returning to such a forsaken site, day in and day out. He kept to himself for the most part, idling in conversation when it suited both of them, which was not always the case. How could such minimal interaction warrant such a maximum request? "Dimitri, think about what you're asking me to do."

"I've thought about it quite frequently," he mused. "Ever since you told me the truth."

An embarrassed shade of red crept up Ashe's neck and bled into his face. He turned his eyes away, afraid of looking at Dimitri any more than was necessary. "Have you considered the real problem here?"

"Which is?"

"That if I start, I might never stop."

"Unfortunately, you're the only one who considers that a problem."

At that, he had nothing left to say. In a way, Dimitri was right: no one would truly care if he offered his blood to Ashe. He had no family to speak of, or if he did, they didn't care for his constant absences enough to stop him. And for Ashe to have been his sole companion these past few months meant that without Ashe, there was no one in Dimitri's life who was willing to stand beside him—merely existing as the world revolved around them.

Ashe, who burdened Dimitri with his own existence, owed him that much, at least.

Understanding this, Ashe wove a promise into the air. "I swear not to hurt you, and that this will be over quick."

Dimitri chuckled. "I trust you."

 _I don't know why you trust me so much,_ Ashe agonized internally. _But I guess I'll have to do something about it, for once._ "Okay. Close your eyes?"

Dimitri did as he was told. With his eyes closed, Ashe could no longer see their color or their shine for what they were: beautiful, exciting. Instead, all he saw was skin—bright, clear, unblemished skin. There were the outlines of scars and bruises on Dimitri's body, from past ventures, no doubt, but nothing that stood out so plainly against his face, chiseled and handsome as it was.

Nothing to stand in Ashe's way as he gently reached out, one hand cupping Dimitri's face, the other reaching to steady his shoulder. Then, both hands clamped down on Dimitri's shoulders, as Ashe bared his fangs, eyes glistening to a deep, bloody red—

 _Snap._ His fangs broke skin, sharp teeth destroying the last boundary between the two of them. Dimitri suppressed a gasp, but lost control of it as Ashe sunk his fangs all the way in—bones like knives into Dimitri's neck.

Then the red began to spill all over, Ashe desperately gasping to keep it all contained.

But he couldn't.

In each drop of blood, it was as if Dimitri's pulse, heart, and _life_ pumped through it, and Ashe felt that he understood everything about him just then. His heart, his mind, his _soul._ It felt so vibrant, so real, so _alive._ He wanted more, more, and _more._ He drank deeply, mind fogged over by his haggard breath, nails digging deep into the arc of his back.

When he remembered himself, he gasped, nearly choking on the blood he found there. He pulled away as quickly as he could, ignoring the pained noise that escaped Dimitri's lips. "Dimitri?" he asked worriedly. "No, no, are you—tell me you're alright."

Dimitri pressed his hand to his wounded neck, eyes blown wide at the realization of what he'd just done. There was a bit of paleness to him now, and a slight tremble that always accompanied people who had lost a significant amount of blood. "I—" he mumbled, voice jaded by exhaustion and ecstasy at the same time. "I'm fine."

"Are you sure? I almost—" Ashe covered his mouth with his hands, eyes closed against the recent memory. His own heart began to beat wildly, thoughts screaming against his head crying out for _more, more, more!_ He silenced everything with the severity of his own breath. "I can heal your wounds. Please, let's never—I don't want you to get hurt again."

"It only hurt for a little bit," Dimitri reasoned. "But I'll trust your judgement. Maybe...this is a dangerous thing for me to like."

Ashe's entire being seemed to glow, enraptured by the new lifeblood within him. Even so, he shook his head at Dimitri, gently reaching out to touch him, as if worried he'd break him further. "No, I'm the one that should be saying that. Don't worry about it for now. I'll take care of things from here."

And he kept to that promise, even as Dimitri laid his head against Ashe's shoulder—even as he closed his eyes and let the paralytic euphoria wash over him.

Ashe, against any judgement good or bad, placed a tiny kiss atop Dimitri's forehead.

Safe and sound.

.

.

Ashe didn't know what his future would look like. He imagined that for as long as he lived, he would spend each day at the bridge—the fateful crossroads that changed his life for good.

He never imagined that someday, the man on the bridge—Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd—would come to know him, and learn about the secrets that Ashe kept hidden from even himself. He never thought that salvation would come for a monstrous soul such as his, much less in the form of another monster in human skin.

Not once in a million years, would Ashe Duran Ubert think himself worthy of being saved—that there was anything _left_ to save for a man like him.

And yet, he was proven wrong at every instance. He was wrong in the beginning, when Dimitri's presence was more than just a coincidence. He was wrong in the middle, when the two of them broke their own promise to each other—when Ashe took to drinking from Dimitri as a common occurrence, nursing his wounds afterward, learning to adore the man whose blood saved him in more ways than one.

Of course, he was wrong in the end, too. In the end, the two of them decided that with how much time they spent together, they ought to do something about it. Dimitri, as it turned out, had money socked away from his family's old funds—pieces of gold that went unused as he had no real way to use it. Instead, he put it all towards a small cottage in the woods, right outside of the cursed river itself. In that cottage was enough space for two grown men to spend the rest of their lives.

As Dimitri planned on spending it with Ashe, infinitely, reversibly, unmistakably so.

"Do you really want to live with me?" Ashe asked, a bit of humor in his voice. "I take more than I give."

"How can that be," Dimitri mused, "if you've given me the world?"

And they would laugh in tandem, the sounds of their voices never tiring one another out. Ashe had come to see this side of Dimitri—a side that might have been commonplace, once upon a time. It took years for that smile of his to become real; it took months and months of closeness and intimacy to bring the smile to fruition.

But soon enough, the smile stayed, and Ashe found himself lying beside the man at night—he who revealed himself to him, bared himself to him, and entrusted himself. To him. To Ashe. To a monster with no right to a peaceful life.

And yet…

"Dimitri," Ashe whispered one day. "I love you."

He was ready for the refusal. He was ready for Dimitri to finally give up on him, and wake up from the extended dream they'd both been having.

He was ready.

Instead, Dimitri said: "I love you, too." And brought their mouths together in a way they hadn't done before. Because the only thing that coursed through Ashe was Dimitri's blood.

He never thought about receiving his _love,_ as well.

And when his lips melted on his, when the contact of warm skin sent his heart aflame and his mind buzzing, Ashe laughed and took everything in. He kissed him over, over, and over again.

Then he asked, "Will you become a monster, and live the long flow of time with me?"

To which Dimitri answered, "I thought you'd never ask."

.

.

The moon was full. Their cottage, white-wood and crawling with ivy, shone like a small beacon under its light. Ashe sat on the marble bench outside of their home, basking in the peace of the night.

Dimitri, tall and strong, laid sprawled across his lap, staring up at his face from below. Ashe smiled down at him, and threaded his fingers through his hair. "Are you ready?" he hummed.

"Of course," Dimitri said. "I love you."

"That wasn't the question I asked," Ashe teased. "But alright. I love you, too."

 _I love you enough to ruin you,_ goes unsaid.

Dimitri understood the sentiment at once, as he closed his eyes, lulled to peace by Ashe's calming motions.

Ashe leaned over, mouth open to expose his fangs. He hovered over the base of Dimitri's neck, thrilled at the sight of him arching in anticipation. As if he hadn't offered his neck hundreds of times over already. Even so, the thought of something new excited them, and Ashe felt their hearts beat in tandem.

He counted the rhythm in his head. One, two, one, two, one two. Ba-bump. Ba-bump. Ba-bump.

He stopped counting and bit down, down, _down_ on Dimitri's neck—so hard that Dimitri gasped, squirmed, writhed. But Ashe resisted him, and bit down even further and further, until…

Until his love laid dying in the moonlight, new life coursing through him over and over again. It took some doing—Ashe had never turned a single human being once before in his prolonged life—but a few drops of his own blood sufficed, and he watched with twisted glee as Dimitri fell into the thralls of involuntary sleep, his body succumbing to the monstrous man before him.

When next Dimitri woke, his canines were sharper, deadlier, though his eyes remained the same piercing shade of blue—a true testament to him as a person, a true contrast against the _red_ hue they would soon take on.

And Ashe, all the while, hadn't moved from his place, except to comb his fingers through Dimitri's hair, smiling at him once his eyes fluttered open. "Good morning, love," he whispered. "How do you feel?"

"Good now that I see you," Dimitri muttered. "Do I look any different?"

Ashe gave him a quizzical look, before pushing his blond bangs out of his face, exposing his forehead and his eyes for all the world to see.

After giving him a once-over, Ashe laughed, and placed another kiss on the exposed skin he found there.

"Nope," he answered happily. "You look the same as ever to me."

Dimitri grinned, his fangs pronounced against the rest of him. "Good," he said. "I wouldn't want to have it any other way."

.

.

Then they kissed, and the rest fell into place after that.

Water under the bridge.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to everyone for reading this! Kudos, comments, etc. are appreciated. Stay safe and have wonderful days!


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